Clybourne Park: Bones to Pick/No Bones to Make
Everyone’s a little bit racist, it’s true
But everyone is just about as racist as you
If we all could just admit that we are racist a little bit
And everyone stopped being so P. C.
Maybe we could live in harmony
(from Avenue Q, by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx)
Sandy Campbell and Mark Pinter
Photos by Daren Scott
Playwright Bruce Norris takes Avenue Q’s snarky bromide to its logical conclusion in his Pulitzer Prize-winning Clybourne Park, now playing through February 10 at San Diego REP’s Lyceum Stage. I have a bone to pick with how Mr. Norris manipulates the story, but I have no bones about recommending this solid-at-every-level production.
Mr. Norris takes off on Lorraine Hansberry’s 1959 play, A Raisin in the Sun, by setting his work in the house that the Younger family bought and by appropriating one of that play’s characters. Creatively, he imagines that Bev (Sandy Campbell) and Russ (Mark Pinter) are selling their house and moving to the suburbs because of a tragedy that occurred there. They’ve turned the sale over to a realtor to move quickly, and their only agenda is to leave and start over, ignoring the consolation of Jim (Jason Maddy), their priest. Enter neighbors Karl (Jason Heil) and his congenitally deaf and very pregnant wife, Betsy (Amanda Leigh Cobb). Karl has just come from visiting the Youngers, where he has been unsuccessful in persuading the family to give up their dream of buying the house. Karl continues his pleading with Russ and Bev, but Russ’s ears on this issue are as deaf as Betsy’s. Meanwhile, Francine (Monique Gaffney), the maid, is trying to escape the scene with her husband, Albert (Matt Orduna) so as to avoid hauling a heavy Army trunk down a difficult set of stairs.
Act 2 is set 50 years later, in 2009. The house has fallen into disrepair and portions of it are covered with graffiti (credit Robin Sanford Roberts’ adaptable scenic design). Steve (Mr. Heil) and his pregnant wife, Lindsey (Ms. Cobb) are negotiating the final terms of a contract to purchase the property, tear it down, and build a much larger home on the site. In on the negotiations is Kathy (Ms. Campbell), a lawyer who happens to be the daughter that was born to Karl and Betsy. Also on the scene are Tom (Mr. Maddy), a realtor; Lena and Kevin (Ms. Gaffney and Mr. Orduna), who represent the neighborhood association; and Dan, a worker who is digging in the back yard in preparation for the demolition.
Jason Heil and Amanda Leigh Cobb
Mr. Norris wants to point out that “isms” of all types still exist, even if we try to do a better job of covering them over today. Act 1 is all deliberate ’50s stereotypes (credit Jennifer Brawn Gittings’ costume design), particularly with Ms. Campbell adorned in grand style to do packing and cleaning for the impending move. From a more-than-50-years’ distance it is easy to recognize the racist attitudes and remarks, even from well-meaning white people. It’s also easy to recognize the sorts of behavior that “good Negroes” (as wonderfully embodied by Ms. Gaffney and Mr. Orduna) were expected to engage in so that they could have adequate working-class lives.
In Act 2, a group that might well consider themselves to be post-racial in attitudes nevertheless mix it up, bringing out contemporary versions of hateful speech: not only racist but sexist and homophobic. Characters are “called out” for their lapses in this regard, but chaos ensues nevertheless. Mr. Norris provides resonances between some of the first and second act characters, particularly for Mr. Heil, whose performances as Karl and Steve are the highlight of the evening. For example, Karl, Mr. Heil’s first-act character, argues that the Younger family shouldn’t move in because the school children take a skiing trip every year, and black people clearly have no interest in skiing. In Act 2, Kevin casually chats with Steve about Lena and his ski trip to Europe.
But, clever as these connections may be I fault Mr. Norris for cheating on the set-up for the Act 2 confrontation. Lena and Kevin are there to protest that the house Steve and Lindsey plan to build is out of character with the neighborhood, and they clearly are correct. The fight would have been fairer had Steve and Lindsey proposed to build a new house but in the style of the rest of the neighborhood. With the present set-up, the conversation degenerates much like that in the recent play, God of Carnage – only Carnage was funnier.
Still, the REP’s assembled a crackerjack cast, and Sam Woodhouse’s direction snaps and pops. It is fun to watch the actors transform from Act 1 to Act 2, particularly Ms. Campbell, who goes from the perfect housewife to a competent but clueless attorney. Mr. Maddy gets the short stick, character-wise, but he does manage a haunting appearance in a coda that brings the two acts together like a slap in the face.[php snippet=1]
Have we really moved into a post-racial society? Probably not. As President Obama pointed out in his second inaugural address: “We recall that what binds this nation together is not the colors of our skin or the tenets of our faith or the origins of our names,” and then he went on to praise the principles of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, as articulated in the Declaration of Independence. Maybe Mr. Norris’ play would have been even more provocative had it been about finding happiness while allowing others sufficient liberty to do the same. The REP’s production will make you laugh, make you sad, but most of all make you think.
[box] Performs on the Lyceum Stage in Horton Plaza through February 10 on the following schedule: Wednesdays 7pm, Thursdays thru Saturday evenings at 8pm and Sundays at 7pm; Sunday matinees at 2pm. Tickets run $31 – $58; active military and senior discounts are available.[/box]
Watch a video teaser for Clybourne Park on YouTube
In addition to reviewing theatre for San Diego Story, Bill also reviews for TalkinBroadway.com. He is a member of the San Diego Theatre Critics Circle and the American Theatre Critics Association. Bill is an emeritus professor in the School of Journalism and Media Studies at San Diego State University.
Bill – I agree with your assessment of CLYBOURNE PARK as a play, although I feel the issues with the play go deeper than you present. I have not seen the production at the Rep, so I cannot comment on the performances. My experience with CLYBOURNE PARK is based on a production in Los Angeles, again well acted, but unable to overcome the basic flaws of the play itself. It was done in conjunction with a production of RAISIN IN THE SUN, the play Norris uses a jumping off point for CLYBOURNE PARK. I use the term “jumping off point” because by comparison Norris is in way over his head.
I have never understood the massive attention heaped on this play (a Tony, the Pulitzer). The first act presents a rather facile mirror to the original plot. Why would a white family sell their home to a family of color? Instead of presenting a thorough examination of the question, Norris presents us with stereotypes from the period with all of the clichéd dialogue to go with it. The second act is even worse. Again we have the stereotypes, this time of contemporary “correct” society. The act presents a litany of all of the “ills” of the present day; gentrification, loss of history, homophobia, racism thrown together with a healthy dose of passive/aggressive behavior and self entitlement. At least in the first act the purpose of the stereotypical behavior had a direction. The second act seems to meander from one “political correct” topic to another with no purpose other than to change focus from character to character.
I was so sure that I had missed something important that I got a copy of the play to read it, thinking that it might give me more insight. The only insight I gained was that Norris had a good one act and need to figure out how to turn it into a full evening of theatre. Unfortunately, he didn’t.